Produced by Jimmy Cagney's brother William, Blood on the Sun is a thriller about early
intrigues in Tokyo before the militarists came to power. It was probably suggested by some
government agency that wanted to remind Americans that not all Japanese were evil fascist
savages, as the propaganda had been spouting for over four years. The script (by one of the
Hollywood Ten) is tight, Cagney is in good form both talking fast and performing Judo, and the
production is lavish for an independent released by United Artists at this time.

Artisan must be an office that blindly orders up its DVD production, because even though there
is no mention of it on the packaging, the transfer encoded has been colorized. Yes, I'm
not kidding. The version bears a 1993 colorized copyright; it could have been chosen from
the vault because it looked better than any B&W transfer, but who knows? When fans who thought
colorization was a dead fad put this disc up, they're going to hit the ceiling. 1

Synopsis:

Nick Condon (James Cagney), a newspaper editor in Tokyo in the very early 30s,
uncovers a
document outlining Japanese plans to invade China. His editor Arthur Bickett (Porter Hall) wants
to appease the militarist hard-liners, but Condon holds out, which results in a couple he knows
being murdered before they can leave for the states. Now Condon has to play a cat-and-mouse game
with the secret police agents of the top Japanese commanders: Premier Tanaka (John Emery), Colonel
Tojo (Robert Armstrong). A half-Japanese/half Chinese operative for the militarists, Iris Hilliard
(Sylvia Sydney) appears to be Condon's worst enemy, until he gets to know her better.

Toward the end of hostilities, Hollywood's war films began to talk about victories in a partial
past tense. The fighting may not have been over, but films started treating it as a fait accompli.
Pictures like 13 Rue Madeleine looked for heroes in unsung corners of the struggle, and
the Cagney brothers' Blood on the Sun reached further back into history to explain that
Japan was a nation hijacked by warlords, and not the land of buck-toothed grinning demons as
pictured in everything from cartoons to musicals. I don't think the words 'Jap' or 'Nip' are even
used here; it's definitely a bury-the-hatchet movie, politics-wise.

Most of the Japanese, as was the custom, are still played by Anglo Hollywood
actors. They're pretty good in the looks department but pretty dreadful with the accents. John
Emery (Kronos) is unrecognizable being
sinister behind a ton of makeup; likewise Robert Armstrong (King Kong) is totally incognito
as Tojo, here portrayed (natch) as a sadistic pervert. There are only a couple of Chinese actors
passing as Japanese. Marvin Miller is made into a nasty, grinning underling with a huge set of teeth.

The story depicts a free-wheeling editor trying to outsmart the Japanese spies, who murder on the
sly and try to blackmail him with a frame-up. Editor Cagney is never seen reading or writing any
newspaper copy, and
flits runs about like a secret agent, taking Judo lessons and running from the secret police.
Sylvia Sydney is an unlikely Asian, but handles her role well. Naturally, she and Cagney fall for
each other and fight on the side of justice. It's really kind of a spy picture, with Cagney putting
up with the duplicitous, scheming militarists, and then dishing it out when the time comes. To
provide a socko finish for the matinee crowd, there's a judo-fisticuffs showdown with the biggest
and most loutish of his foes. The Quiet American, this ain't.

James Bell, Cagney's constantly-worried newspaper buddy, is familiar from a couple of Val Lewton
films. Hugh Beaumont isn't billed, but has a couple of bits as an embassy official. Wallace
Ford and a young Rosemary DeCamp are very effective in brief roles as Cagney's close friends.

Legendary production designer Wiard Ihnen designed the film, which alternates between interesting
Japanese traditional settings and more modern architecture clearly aping Frank Lloyd Wright's famous
Japanese hotel. The dramatic ending scene, however, is set on an iconic rainy street that might
be from Public Enemy.

Writer Lester Cole wrote a number of patriotic hits like Objective: Burma, and then around 1950
disappeared except for the odd credit under other names, even the big hit
Born Free (ironic title) in 1965. One
of the
founding members of the Screenwriter's Guild, being branded as one of the Hollywood Ten effectively
wiped out his career. I don't think we'll find anything anti-American in Blood on the Sun.

How does one review Blood on the Sun for picture quality? Colorization is a discredited
gimmick that long ago went the way of the Dodo Bird, and I can only hope that some mistake was
made at Artisan. That the
packaging is unaware of the colorization can only mean that one hand is ignorant of what the other's
doing, or somebody just doesn't care. The fans care, and I bet more than a few are returning their
discs and/or howling at Arisan. The version bears a 1993 colorized copyright.

The B&W print that was colorized was probably in pretty good shape, but the gamma (density) has been
been made lighter to facilitate the paint-by-numbers tinting work. It's one of the
better colorizations I've seen, but it's still like watching a tinted lobby card that moves,
not a 1945 movie. Turning off the color gives you a bunch of washed out greys - the low gamma I'm
talking about.

The packaging design is reasonably attractive, and uses Artisan's standard incorrect aspect ratio
diagram that says the format was modified, when it wasn't.

(Thanks to Dick Dinman for corrections... he tells me that the Hal Roach DVD of Blood
on the Sun is of decent quality, in real B&W. 2)

On a scale of Excellent, Good, Fair, and Poor,Blood on the Sunrates:Movie: Good
Video: Poor
Sound: Good
Supplements: nonePackaging: Keep case
Reviewed: August 28, 2003

Footnote:

1.It's possible that there
was a disclaimer on the shrink wrapping mentioning
the colorization. I don't remember seeing one when I opened the disc, a week ago. My apologies if
all the store copies are so labeled. For what it's worth, the Amazon listing doesn't
mention colorization, and ID's the disc as B&W.Return

2.More Artisan-Hal Roach reader info: I've got a
slight addendum to your Blood on the Sun review, about the Hal Roach DVD being of decent
quality and in b&w.

I have this disc, and there are some rather important notes printed on the back that
distinguish the Hal Roach DVD above all others, which your readers will find valuable:

"DIGITALLY MASTERED FROM THE ORIGINAL NITRATE CAMERA NEGATIVE
Blood on the Sun has historically suffered by being presented in very poor 16mm and
35mm dupe versions, most of which contained a very serious indigenous jitter (Note: not on
the Artisan disc). This stunning digital transfer was made from the brilliant original
nitrate camera negative, which remains in mint condition after almost six decades."

The Hal Roach DVD is far better than Artisan's edition - it's in B&W, in excellent condition,
utilizes the original nitrate camera negative, and is the best transfer the film will likely
ever get. (Hal Roach Studios, 94m, #HRS9444). Thanks, Jeff Krispow Return